This is a short review of DMAIC phase of Six Sigma which take effect on Ford Motor Company

1. A Short Review of DMAIC phase of
SIX SIGMA EFFECT ON
FORD MOTOR COMPANY

2. LIST OF TOPICS
 Background of Ford Motor Company
 Why Six Sigma Chosen
 Define Phase
 Measure & Analyze Phase
 Improve & Control Phase
 Six Sigma Result
 Source of Information

3. BACKGROUND OF FORD MOTOR COMPANY
Ford Motor Co. made "Quality Is Job 1", a household slogan in the 1980s
as it introduced revolutionary new products and used Total Quality
Management to drive down costs and capture market share. Lately,
however, the No. 2 automaker has been plagued by quality gaffes that
have cost it dearly in customer satisfaction and market share. In fact,
according to a recent J.D. Power & Associates survey, Ford has fallen
behind arch-rival General Motors Corp. in overall quality and now ranks last
among the big-seven automakers.
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4. WHY SIX SIGMA CHOSEN
 Nasser(Ford CEO) knows that improving customer satisfaction translates
directly into improvements in the bottom line. "Our data show that
customers who are highly satisfied remain loyal," says Louise Goeser,
Ford's vice president of quality. "In fact, one and a half points of customer
satisfaction drive about one point more loyalty. In North America alone, this
translates into more than $2 billion in incremental revenue and roughly
$100 million in profit.
 To achieve Nasser's vision of becoming a consumer products company and
gain the coveted increase in customer satisfaction, Ford turned to Six
Sigma. The program, pioneered by Motorola and made famous by Jack
Welch's General Electric, utilizes many of the same tools as TQM, QS-
9000 and other quality initiatives. Its name derives from its goal: to enable
processes to produce results with no more than 3.4 defects per
million.
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5. DEFINE PHASE
Many Ford Mustang owners expressed dissatisfaction with the amount of effort it
took to close the hoods on their vehicles.
"They like to get under the hood," says Mike Stock, a Ford Master Black Belt. "But
in some cases, they had to drop the hood from as high as 20 inches in order to get
it to latch.“
Enter Consumer Driven 6-Sigma
Throughout the production assembly of any vehicle component, issues that arise
are frequently treated on the spot or through rework after assembly. Although
this approach can treat symptoms and provide a quick fix, Ford's Consumer Driven
6-Sigma provides the tools to find the right solution and a lasting cure.
"Consumer Driven 6-Sigma allowed us to look at the interactions between all of the
components to find the true root cause," explains Stock. "The data it produced
allowed us to identify all of the key contributors, and how much each truly impacted
the overall issue."
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6. MEASURE & ANALYZE PHASE
The Consumer Driven 6-Sigma team assigned to the problem relied on three main
tools to identify the areas that were making the hoods hard to close.
 The team used design of experiments to simulate how parts could be changed and what their
effects would be.
For example, the team altered the height of the hood latch bumper, or changed the angle and
position of the latch relative to the hood-mounted striker, and dropped the hood to study the
effect.
 The team also used a component search analysis, which included changing and studying the
locations of components on the actual vehicle assembly line. Such "line trials" identified other
areas where variations in product occur.
 Process mapping enabled the team to walk the entire manufacturing process to see where any
variance occurred and where components were not matching specifications.
Much of the testing was done on a "coordination fixture," a representation of the
vehicle that was used to measure the suspected gaps, margins and fits. The
coordination fixture showed where each component is located in relationship to
another. The team measured hood-drop heights with a gage that showed the
effects of closing from various distances.
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7. IMPROVE & CONTROL PHASE
One of the major trouble spots in the Mustang hood-closing system involved the
angle at which the latch and striker met. The team found the solution by
changing the geometry of a support bracket to allow for expected variations.
Process mapping and assembly evaluation also showed variation in the way
hood latches were installed. The hood latch was changed so that it will only fit
one way, making it impossible to install the latch improperly.
"One of the objects of Consumer Driven 6-Sigma is understanding precisely what
the process is and the material flow through the plant," explains Stock. "That's
when you can see hidden sources of variation that you might have overlooked
before. Then you can begin cutting costs by reducing the variations, and you
improve the quality of the product at the same time."
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8. SIX SIGMA RESULT
Although Ford is still calculating final customer satisfaction figures on the
adjusted hood-closing system, the team expects a 97-percent drop in
related reported vehicle concerns.
Ford stands to save $283,000 a year in reduced scrap, rework and “non
value-added activity” caused by the hood issue and vehicle-warranty work.
Additionally, customer satisfaction with the Mustang gets a boost.
"Consumer Driven 6-Sigma lets us separately identify each of the
elements, as well as the interaction of the elements, to achieve a result
that addresses the entire issue," notes Stock. "That leads to better
processes, better products and greater customer satisfaction."
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9. SOURCE OF INFORMATION
Consumer-driven Six Sigma saves Ford $300 million, Scott M.
Paton, http://www.qualitydigest.com/sept01/html/ford.html
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10. END OF PRESENTATION